Oh Mother
by pikapikatchu
Summary: When Greg's mom pays him a visit at the lab to make him an offer that could change his whole life, he doesn't know how to deal with her. She worries too much about him, but Greg's next case won't quite change that.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys!

Another story of mine :) I had this idea in mind for years now, but since I only started writing fanfic now, I figured I should do it now ;)

When I had the idea, Grissom was still supervisor. Would've turned out differently, but I had to make these changes. So DB Russel's the supervisor in this story.

Let me know what you think of it!

Enjoy!

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><p>"Did you find it yet?" Greg asked, holding a ladder.<p>

"Not yet, but it must be here somewhere..." Nick was fumbling through some boxes sitting on a shelve. He was standing on the ladder, searching for a bullet. One of the boxes had a bullet hole in it and they were sure the bullet must be there somewhere. They were at a warehouse where an employee was fired two days ago and went in with a gun a few hours ago, shooting at his former colleagues and his ex-boss. Everybody survived but him. He committed suicide afterwards.

"Try that one," Greg said as he pointed at one of the boxes behind the one with the hole.

"I'm trying to, but it's too heavy!"

"Can you lift it up and hand it to me?"

"I think I'll fall off the ladder if I do," he replied laughing.

"Should I get some help?"

Nick looked around. No one was near them. "No, if you let go of the ladder I might fall off as well. I'll try to find the bullet while I'm up here." While he was fumbling through the box, looking for that bullet, he didn't notice that he was moving the box next to the heavy one with his elbow. "Hah, I got it!" he said happily. At the same moment, the box he was moving fell down.

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><p>"Here, let me help you." Nick got out of his car and ran to the other side, opening the door for Greg and helping him get out.<p>

"I can do that myself," he replied quite bugged. While he got out, he stumbled a bit. He was dizzy.

Nick grabbed him to keep him from falling down. "I can't tell you how sorry I am, Greg..."

"Then stop. It's not your fault, it was an accident..." When Nick accidentally moved one of the boxes, causing it to fall down, it hit Greg on the head. Although he wasn't unconscious, he was taken to a hospital. Despite a laceration on the forehead and a black eye he was fine, though. Just a little dizzy. "I'm just glad you didn't fall off that ladder when I let go of it."

"And you're sure you don't want to go home?" Nick asked as he and Greg walked into the lab.

"I'm fine. I was able to rest in the hospital when I had to wait hours to get examined," he said grumpy. He wasn't in the best mood after this.

They walked up to Russels' office to tell him what happened. Nick wanted to call him while they were at the hospital, but couldn't reach him.

"Wait," Greg said when they went past Catherine's office. "What's that smell?"

"I don't smell anything... Maybe we should get you back to the hospital," he replied concerned. "Isn't that a sign of some injuries in the brain?"

Greg rolled his eyes. "My brain's fine. This smell, it smells so familiar..." When the door to Catherine's office opened, he couldn't believe his eyes. A tall woman with blond, shoulder length hair was standing in the door.

"...Mom?" he said surprised. His mother was just coming out of the office. She had been crying. "...What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"Oh my god, Greg!" she exclaimed. "What happened to you?" she quickly walked up to him to examine his injuries. She hugged him as she sobbed.

"Mom, what's wrong? ...Is dad okay?"

She finally recovered her composure. "Your dad's fine, honey. It's you I'm worried about! Would you tell me what happened to your face?" she asked rather upset.

"Nothing, it was just an accident. I'm fine."

"At work, right?"

Greg nodded annoyed. He knew where this was going.

"Mrs. Sanders, nice to meet you again." Nick shook her hand. "It was my fault. We were looking through some boxes when one dropped down, hitting Greg."

"Your work's too dangerous, Greg! First this guy terrorizing the police, then the hostage situation at the bank... Your colleagues..."

"What happened with Julian was unfortunate, he was a very sick individual... But I guarantee you there's no danger from any of our colleagues, Mrs. Sanders," Nick said, trying to calm her down.

"...Who the hell's Julian? I was talking about you!"

"...Thank you, Nick..." Greg said annoyed. He didn't tell his mother about Julian, he was sure she'd freak out when she heard that. Now he'd have to tell her, after all.

"Maybe we should leave them alone, Nicky... I'm sure they have a lot of catching up to do," Catherine said with a smile, leaving with Nick.

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><p>Greg walked into an empty evidence room with his mom. "What are you doing here, mom? You scared the hell out of me!"<p>

"Not a good feeling, right? I was at home worried sick, I couldn't stop thinking about all the horrible things you have to see and go through working here!"

"It's not as bad as you're trying to make it out to be. Yes, the job's risky, but most of the time there's no danger at all."

"You're working with criminals. How's that not dangerous?" Just now she noticed that Greg was carrying a gun. He wasn't carrying it everyday, but when they were called to the scene today they weren't sure if the suspect was still in the building, so he decided to take the gun with him, just in case. "What's this? You have a gun now?"

"No, I mean... yeah, sometimes I carry one to the scenes..."

"Why? Because it's too dangerous not to, right?" She started crying again. "I can't take this anymore. I need to know you're safe." She handed him a paper.

"What's this?" he asked confused.

"I talked to the lab director in San Gabriel. They're offering you a job as a DNA tech."

"You did what? Mom! If I wanted to be a DNA tech again I would already be one here at the lab."

"It's not just your job. It's this city. You need to get out of here."

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><p>Greg was able to convince his mom to leave the lab. Of course she insisted to talk about this later, so she drove to his apartment. He walked into the break room looking like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He didn't want his mom to worry about him. Knowing that she did, though, was hard on him.<p>

"Hey. Where's your mother?" Catherine asked as she saw him walk into the break room.

"Waiting at my apartment for me to get home..." he said embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, Catherine. She shouldn't have bothered you."

"It's okay. I'm a mother, too, I understand her."

After fixing himself a coffee, he sat down at the table. "What did she talk to you about, anyways?"

"Well..." Catherine put her mug down. "She asked me to convince you to quit."

Greg looked surprised. "She did what?"

"She's just scared. Of course she wants her son to be safe. I'm sure she'll calm down again."

"Yeah but does she have to come here and embarrass me like that? I'm an adult, it's none of her business."

"I think it's kinda cute she came here," Nick came in and sat down next to Greg, patting him on the shoulder. "She loves you."

"You don't get it. It's always been that way. It pains me to know how much she worries, it's always been that way. I always had to worry about how she'd react if something ever happened to me, not what it would mean to me," Greg said both angry and sad. If anyone knew how bad it could be to have overprotective parents, it was him. His cell phone rang. He sighed. "It's her."


	2. Chapter 2

I'm so happy you guys like the direction this story is going!

Personally, I can really relate to Greg. My mom is very overprotective, too. I tried to write Greg's mom with my own mom in mind ;) It can really be hard having a mother that worries too much! How about your moms? Anyone else can relate?

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><p>On the next day, Greg and Nick were assigned to a new case. Greg's mom was still in Vegas, living in his apartment.<p>

"She started cleaning up my apartment. I never was so annoyed by her like I am now," Greg said to Nick as they were walking inside an office building.

"That's long overdue, isn't it?" Nick responded quite mocking. Greg was infamous for his messy place.

"I like my place to be a bit... you know, lazy."

"It wasn't lazy anymore, I think I once saw a rat."

"Shut up," Greg replied with a smirk. "That's not the point. I'm an adult, it's not normal that my mom's cleaning up my apartment!"

"She doesn't have anything else to do here in Vegas, does she? She doesn't strike me as the type to hit the casinos."

"Yeah well couldn't she just watch TV like the rest of us?"

As they went into an office, they were greeted by officer Donovan. "Two dead, two injured."

"Wow," Nick said as he took a look around. "Looks like he shot a few rounds empty."

"How many people were in here when he started the shooting?"

"Nine. Five made it out alive without a scratch, two had only minor injuries. It's a miracle," the officer answered. He walked them to the two dead bodies.

"Is this the gun he used?" Greg asked as he bent down to take a picture of the gun lying next to one of the bodies.

The officer nodded. "Son of a bitch had at least the decency to take his own life."

Nick gave the officer a look. It was a rather harsh thing to say. "Thank you, we'll take it from here. You can wait outside."

The officer left.

"Can you believe him?" Nick asked Greg.

"He doesn't have any blood spatter on his hand," Greg said as he showed Nick the body's hands. "If he pulled the gun on himself, why doesn't he have any blood on his hands?"

"That's weird." Nick checked out the other body's hands. "No blood here, either." He stood up. "Two people running amok in their workplaces in just two days, that's sick," he said, remembering the case they just closed yesterday.

The two bodies were lying in the copy room and Nick was walking into the boss' office. Greg took a few pictures in the copy room and collected some evidence before heading towards the boss' office, too. "You know, something about the position of the bodies is not right..." Greg said as he opened the door, looking at some of the evidence he just collected. Before he was able to walk in, shots were fired in his direction. He quickly ducked and ran behind a desk for cover. His heart was beating like crazy. _What just happened? _He looked over to the copy room. He didn't carry a gun today but there was one lying in there. He knew there were still two bullets left, but would he risk getting shot to get it? Without it he was completely defenseless.

"Nick?" he yelled, hoping to get an answer. Instead, the gunman fired some shots towards his direction.

He took out his radio to call for backup. As soon as he started talking, shots were fired in his direction again. It was several steps to the copy room. Wait for backup or get the gun, what was he supposed to do?

The officer Nick sent away rushed in with his gun drawn. Shots were fired, hitting him in the leg. He went down.

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><p>DB and Sara were working on a case at the time of the shooting. Brass was with them on the case. He was gone for a few minutes and had a serious look on his face when he came back. "There's something wrong at Nick's crime scene. I have to go." He walked away and DB quickly followed.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

"Donovan!" Greg whispered to the officer. "Quick, get over here!" He was lying a few feet away from Greg, in plain sight, without anything covering him from the boss' office, where the shots came from.

He didn't move. He was too weak to crawl over there, let alone walk. He lost a lot of blood quite quickly. Greg had to go and get him, but knew whoever was shooting would shoot immediately once he heard his steps.

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><p>Backup finally arrived. Brass and DB were standing in front of the office building, a police line was already built around the building and three ambulances were standing there.<p>

"Okay, what have we got?" Brass asked the first responding police officer.

"Several shots were fired in there since I came here, Sir. I called for backup. We know where they are. It's the same office where the CSIs were working at," the officer explained.

"And what's going on in there? Who's in there? Are the CSIs still in there?"

Before the officer could answer, they heard someone running up to them.

"Where is he? Where's my boy?" Greg's mom yelled, running towards them. Brass had to stop her, otherwise she would've run right into the building.

"Ma'am, you can't go in there! Who are you?" Brass asked surprised. He never met Greg's mom before.

Catherine was running to them. "Jim, that's Mrs. Sanders. Greg's mother."

The surprise in Brass' face was even bigger now.

"Mrs. Sanders, nice to meet you, I'm DB Russel, I'm..." DB said while reaching his hand out to her.

"I know who you are! You're the one responsible for this!" she yelled.

"How about we step aside for a minute and talk? These gentlemen have the situation under control, I'm sure your son is alright," he replied with a faint smile on his face.

"I won't leave until I know Greg's safe!"

"Mrs. Sanders, please. Let them do their job, they need some space here."

"It's all your fault! How can you assign him to these dangerous crime scenes?" she said as DB was leading her away from the police line.

"Okay, Jim, what the hell's going on?" Catherine asked. "Are Nick and Greg really in there?"

He nodded. "Nick, Greg and officer Donovan."

Catherine shook her head. "This can't be happening again! How are we gonna get them out of there?"

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><p>"<em>Greg, what's going on in there?" <em>Brass asked through the phone. Greg had called him.

"I-I'm not sure... There's someone shooting in here. Nick's in the same room as the gunman... I don't know if he's okay," he replied, sounding rather helpless. Brass could hear shots being fired again.

"_Greg? Greg?" _

"I'm okay... He's firing everytime he hears noise..." Greg whispered.

"_Stay calm, SWAT team's going to storm the place in a minute..." _

"No, no, no! Don't come in!" Greg said quite loud. Loud enough to cause the gunman to fire his gun a few times again. Greg winced, covering his head with his hand. "Donovan's at the door, he can't move. He'll be right in the line of fire, don't come in!"

"_Alright... Then get him away from there, we need to do something!"_

Greg had to get officer Donovan out of the line of fire, but how? Whenever the gunman heard something, he fired in the direction the noise was coming from. Maybe that was Greg's shot, he thought. And indeed, when the gunman heard noise coming from several feet away from Greg and Donovan, he quickly fired in the direction. It was enough time for Greg to use the opportunity to help Donovan take cover behind the desk. He threw away a cordless phone that was lying on the table to make some noise far away from Donovan and it worked.

"Let me take a look," Greg said as he checked out Donovan's gunshot wound. It looked worse than it actually was, but it really looked bad. "Okay, try not to move too much, you're going to be okay..." Greg said without knowing for sure. He took off his jacket and used it to apply pressure on the wound.

"What the hell happened?" the officer asked weakly.

"I don't know but... Nick's in there... They're about to storm the office soon... I need this," Greg said while taking Donovan's gun.

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><p>Greg wrote Brass a text message to let him know that Donovan was in safety.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys! What did you think of the last chapter? :)

I almost double-posted the last one because I saved it under two different names... I hope that doesn't mean there's a chapter missing, but I don't think so. ;) It all makes sense, I believe. If not, please let me know!

Now enjoy :)

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><p>The door slowly opened, as silently as possible. Greg repositioned himself to be able to see the gunman, in case he fired at the police officers. He had officer Donovan's gun drawn, ready to use it if he had to. He dreaded the thought of shooting at someone, but he was willing to do anything to help Nick in there – if he was still alive.<p>

One of the officers from the SWAT team saw Greg looking up from a desk. Although all of the seven officers knew that Greg and officer Donovan were in there and knew that the gunman was firing from the boss' office, the SWAT team member thought Greg was the gunman. He rapidly turned to point his gun at him, making some noise. The gunman immediately fired shots in the SWAT team's direction.

Everybody was able to run for cover and they knew now that Greg was one of them. Unfortunately, Greg wasn't able to fire any shots. He saw the gunman, but he took cover as well when the shots were fired. He just wasn't cut out for this kind of situation.

A shot was fired. One single shot. It sounded different than the others. The others sounded like they were fired from an automatic gun. This one sounded like it was fired from a small gun.

Silence. Nobody said or did anything, they all wondered what this could've meant. Suicide maybe? Greg was just hoping Nick was alright.

The SWAT team decided to go in the boss' office and check it out. They signed Greg to get down while they go in.

"No..." Greg whispered to himself. Before the SWAT team members reached the door, he could see the gunman getting ready to fire some more shots. "Get down, he's still in there!" he yelled.

The gunman fired both in Greg's and in the SWAT team's direction, only this time Greg used the opportunity and fired a shot himself, hitting the shooter. The SWAT team ran over to the gunman.

Greg stood there with a shocked look on his face. He almost couldn't believe he pulled the trigger. He was shaking. "...Nick?" he said, almost too quiet to be heard, walking towards the office. He was held back by a SWAT officer, though. This only made him more nervous – why would they hold him back? "But my..."

Nick finally walked out of the office. He appeared to be fine.

"...Nick! Thank god... Are you alright?" Greg asked as he hugged him.

He nodded. "I'm fine... You did good," he replied as he patted Greg on the shoulder.

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><p>As they walked out, Greg's mom ran towards them and hugged Greg. "I was so worried!" she said with tears in her eyes.<p>

"Mom... What are you doing here?" Greg asked surprised.

"She was with me when I got the call..." Catherine said, joining them. She hugged Greg and Nick.

"What were you doing wi..." He got interrupted by Catherine.

"Let's talk about this later. We're just glad you're alright!"

The paramedics got officer Donovan and the gunman out of the building.

"Oh my..." Greg's mom said. "Are they going to be okay?"

"I hope so..." Greg said under his breath.

One of the officers from the SWAT team walked over to Greg. "You did a good job in there."

Greg gave the officer a faint smile, hoping his mother wouldn't understand what was going on.

"Can we go home now?" his mother asked impatiently with her arm around Greg.

"No, I can't. I have to get back to the station. I'll call you when I get home, alright?"

"Greg, no. I almost lost you today... I can't let you go just like that."

Greg walked her away from the crowd. "Mom, stop it! You're embarrassing me. I'm old enough not to have my mom worry about me like that..."

"For god's sake, Greg! I'm your mother, I'll never stop worrying about you! I love you, I don't want you to get hurt!"

"I'm not going to get hurt. I'm fine, I just need to take care of a few things at work. It's procedure. Please go home, I'll get home as soon as I can."


	5. Chapter 5

Here's the last chapter! I hope the ending is satisfying. I might pick up Greg's relationship to his mom sometime later, but I can't guarantee that.

Enjoy and tell me what you think, please :) Of course, tell me what you think even if you didn't enjoy the chapter ;)

Big Love and stay tuned for the next story!

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><p>Nick and Greg had to answer some questions about what happened in that office. Greg went in first. He talked with Brass, Ecklie, and DB for over an hour. Nick was next. He came back an hour later, walking into the locker room to get ready to go home. He found Greg sitting there in the dark. "Hey. What are you still doing here? Isn't your mom waiting for you?"<p>

He nodded. "I just need some time away from her."

Nick smiled a bit. "She's been here only a few days and she'll leave soon, don't you want to spend some time with her?"

"Not after what she did. I talked to Catherine, my mom came to see her to talk her into firing me!"

Nick looked astonished. "She did?"

"She didn't know about Cath's demotion. As soon as she heard, she wanted to talk to Russel. She wants me to come back to California to work there as a DNA tech."

"Greg, you're an adult. She can't force you to do anything and no one's going to fire you just because your mom wants it."

"That's not the point, Nick. She should just let me live my life the way I want to, why does she even try to interfere?"

"Because she loves you and doesn't want to lose you. Our work can be dangerous sometimes and you've escaped death a lot lately. It's natural for a mom to worry about her child, don't you think?"

"Sure, but I don't see your mom at the lab, trying to get you fired."

Nick laughed a bit. "She worries, too. She just doesn't show it like your mom does."

"So what am I supposed to do about it?"

Nick walked over to him to pat him on the back. "You're a big boy, Greg. You'll figure it out. Now go home and spend some time with your mom."

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><p>When Greg finally came home, his mother seemed calm and in a rather good mood.<p>

"Hey, how did it go?" she asked interested as he sat down on the couch next to her.

He nodded. "Good. They only needed to know what happened..." he replied, turning on the TV, hoping to end this subject.

"How is the officer doing? The one who got shot?"

Greg sighed a bit. "He'll be alright. It looked worse than it was."

"And the criminal?"

Greg was getting a bit nervous when she asked about the gunman's condition. "He... uh... he'll be alright, too." He didn't want her to know he was the one who shot him.

"Good, that's good. And you?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going to be okay?" she said as she gently put her hand on his arm.

"Oh, yeah. Sure. No one died, that's a good thing, right?" he replied with a smile on his face. Right when he finished the sentence he noticed what a stupid thing it was to say right in front of his overprotective mother.

"But you still had to shoot a man. He'll be fine, but I'm worried about you."

His jaw almost dropped when she said that. She knew! He was getting more nervous. "Wh... What?" he said with a nervous smile. "...How do you know I w...?"

She interrupted him. "I overheard the officers saying you took the criminal down. Are you okay?"

"Mom, it's fine! I knew what I was signing up to when I decided to be a CSI. The job can be dangerous, I can't change that. But I love what I do and I'm not going to give it up!" he said, overreacting a bit.

"I know. I was wrong when I asked you to quit and I'm sorry." She had a faint smile on her face.

Greg was getting ready to argue about what was just said, and now she agreed with him? He was confused. "But... What? ...How come?"

"You know... I was worried sick waiting here for you to get home. I was wondering if something might happen at the lab or on your way home... But that's my problem, not yours. Greg, I'll always worry about you, whether you'll work as a CSI or not. But I saw how you handled a dangerous situation today. How you risked your life to save that officer. Yeah, I overheard that, too."

Greg rolled his eyes a bit.

"And you know what? As much as I worry about you, I'm also proud of you. You really did great today." She put her arms around him. "I love you. Instead of worrying about you I should be there for you."

After talking about how he was an adult all day, his mother's embrace felt good, after all. He was an adult, but he was also a son.

"So, you need anything? You want to cry, maybe?" she asked kindly.

"Mooom..." He rolled his eyes.

"Or do you want me to fix you something to eat?"

"Well, I am kinda hungry..."


End file.
